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Oregon History: Taking Stock

In 1962 Thomas
Lawson McCall, a journalist, caught the state's
attention with a television documentary, "Pollution in
Paradise." In his clipped, forceful narration and with
compelling photography, McCall showed what had happened to
the Willamette River. Sewage, industrial wastes, garbage,
abandoned docks and warehouses, tires, and hulks of
automobiles befouled a once pristine, fish-filled stream.
Between 1850 and 1920 the Willamette had served as western
Oregon's artery of commerce and transportation. Use had bred
abuse and, almost without seeing it, Oregonians had
transformed the stream into an open sewer.

Tom McCall was elected governor in 1966. Stressing an
eleventh commandment, "Thou shalt not pollute," McCall, a
Republican, forged a broad-based coalition to address the
consequences of rapid development, growing population, and
ecological changes in the state. McCall's ideas were not
always popular and his commentary sometimes appeared quirky.
His approach, however, was earnest and, for a majority,
compelling. During his eight years in office he and
like-minded leaders--Stafford Hansell, a hogfarmer from
Boardman, L.B. Day, a labor leader from Salem, and
others--began a process of moving Oregonians from outright
"ownership" of land to "stewardship."

The development of the Willamette Greenway helped to protect the banks of the Willamette River, a waterway with both industrial and recreational importance. Shown above is Willamette Falls at Oregon City. (Oregon State Archives Photo No. claD0069)

The tally of accomplishments during the McCall years
included creation of the Department of Environmental Quality
(1969), extensive research and solution to Willamette Valley
fieldburning, blocking of shipment of additional tons of
nerve gas to the Umatilla Army Depot, creation of the
Willamette Greenway--a 170-mile-long corridor of easements
and park properties, the Bottle Bill (1971) requiring
deposits on returnable beverage containers, and Senate Bill
100. This much-debated bill created the Land Conservation
and Development Commission (1973). The LCDC moved every
county and incorporated town into a system of statewide
land-use planning. Hearings on draft goals and guidelines
drew thousands of participants to meetings. Volunteers and
staff hammered out a system for evaluating, in light of the
statewide guidelines, comprehensive land-use plans required
of all government entities. Repeatedly critics tried to
overturn the LCDC. Each time a majority of voters sustained
the system. Oregonians had started to come to terms with the
realities of growth and the responsibilities inherent in
sustaining livability.

The spotted owl came to symbolize the conflict between environmentalists and timber communities over the fate of Oregon's forests.

The 1990s were a sobering decade for dozens of small
towns and for the thousands involved in logging and
lumbering. The boom ended in the forest products industry.
Shrill voices decried the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and
charged that spotted owls and marbled murrelets were not
worth jobs and payrolls. The reality was that Oregon had not
attained sustained yield in management of forests and that
overharvest, similar to overfishing, forced adjustment.
Sawmills closed. Towns like Powers, West Fir, Oakridge,
Swiss Home, Hines, Valsetz, and Vernonia were shaken by the
closures and departure of residents. Most communities
adjusted. Some Oregonians, however, wrestled with difficulty
when they discovered that the national forests and lands
administered by the Bureau of Land Management--acreage on
the other side of their fence--belonged to all the people of
the United States, not the locals, and that interest groups
thousands of miles away had a valid voice in crafting land
policy and use of public resources.

The 1990s was also a decade of diversification in
Oregon's economy. High-tech industries came of age. From
modest beginnings in a garage in 1948, Howard Vollum and
Jack Murdock built Tektronix, an electronics company, into
one of the nation's largest companies by the mid-1980s.
Oregon's reputation as a decent place to live with willing
workers encouraged several corporations--among them
Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Wacker Siltronics--to construct
fabrication plants and manufacture computer components.
These billion-dollar facilities contributed to a thriving
urban Oregon economy. While many rural Oregonians struggled
with survival, many urban Oregonians found good jobs in new
industries. Phil
Knight and Bill Bowerman, longtime track coach at the
University of Oregon, transformed the tennis shoe into a
styled, engineered icon of the "fitness generation." Their
Nike Corporation grew by the 1990s into a major manufacturer
and retailer of sports and casual clothing. Its distinctive
"swoosh" logo appeared on the outfits of professional
athletes, amateurs, and even great-grandmothers who found
ease and comfort wearing nonlacing tennis shoes or fleece
jogging outfits.

Phil Knight made Nike an international leader in sports/casual clothing and sporting goods. Learn more about Knight.

In 1984 residents of the state approved a lottery. It
grew rapidly in popularity as new games and promotions
increased player options. Gambling profits proved
irresistible to legislators who appropriated them to meet
costs of basic social services and education. In 1992 the
Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians negotiated the
first gaming compact with the governor under the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act. Within five years the tribe was the
second largest employer in Douglas County, operating a
casino, restaurants, hotel, truck stop, and other businesses
at Canyonville. Other tribes followed. In 1998 Spirit
Mountain Casino, owned by the Confederated Tribes of the
Grand Ronde Community, surpassed Multnomah Falls as the most
visited traveler destination in Oregon.

Oregon had not solved all its problems. Adequate
financing for education at all levels eluded legislators,
governors, teachers' unions, and students. Salmon recovery
plans, at times, seemed more abundant than fish. Indian
tribes, federal and state agencies, sport and commercial
fishing organizations, and fish biologists all wrestled with
finding ways to save remaining runs and rebuilding those
that teetered on the edge of extinction. Poverty continued
to grip Oregonians. Thousands of new residents--many of them
Hispanics who had found hard jobs and tough living
conditions in following the harvests and working in the
state's nursery business--tried to make do.

Multnomah Falls was eclipsed by Spirit Mountain Casino as the most visited Oregon traveler destination in 1998. (Oregon State Archives Photo No. mulD0083)

A willingness to embrace new ventures has persisted in
Oregon. In 1990 Measure 5 placed severe limitations on
property taxes to support schools and government. In 1993
Oregonians were first in the nation to hold a vote-by-mail
election. The following year they approved a Death With
Dignity Act, permitting doctor-assisted suicide. In 1998
Oregon raised the minimum wage to the highest in the nation,
easing for the hourly worker some of the struggle for
existence but threatening enterprises operating on a
shoestring. Oregonians refused to approve a sales tax, but
continued to pay high property taxes and income taxes.

Such is the course of Oregon history. A majestic
territory of immense potentials drew newcomers in the 1840s.
In less than a decade they wrested control from the American
Indians, changed the face of the land with surveys and
property ownership, and engaged in ambitious exploitation of
the state's resources. When it finally became evident that
nature's plenty could not continue to yield in profusion,
Oregonians embraced new models for doing things.

The state's history has stories of triumph and tragedy,
hope and perseverance, and taking risks. The Oregon System
became a national model for improving government in the
20th century. Oregon has served as a great testing
ground for federal projects which have provided a medley of
benefits--electricity, navigation, irrigation, timber
harvests, tourist facilities, and jobs. Oregon has led the
nation in environmental legislation and commitment to
working for quality of life for all of its citizens. For
generations Oregonians have celebrated the special words in
their state song: "Hail to thee, Land of Promise, My
Oregon." Oregon's promise is strong and therein lies the
state's future.